A Spectre's Past
by Hanthar
Summary: The story of Maxwell Shepard's troubled teenage years, from gang member to Alliance recruit. Based on the "Earthborn" origin from the Mass Effect series.


"_**Max, follow me! We'll lose 'em in the King Centre!"**_

**Maxwell Shepard was running, and running hard. Having just pulled off a mid-day robbery at a jewelry shop on 29th Avenue, he and his accomplice Jack Mason were being pursued hard by Alliance police forces. **

**Hearing Mason's voice, Shepard rounded the bend that they were on, ducking into a nearby side street. After doing so, they ducked into a row of dilapidated houses, hopeful that the Alliance would give up. **

**They didn't. **

"**_Stop in the name of the Alliance, you punks!"_ yelled the pursuing officers as they darted into the houses after the duo. The officers were well-trained and well-armed soldiers; Shepard and Jack were just two 17-year olds who thought they were John Wayne incarnate. **

**As the duo darted through the broken down and condemned row-houses, dodging and weaving their way through ratty old furniture, Mason, who was just a few paces in front, tripped and crashed into a desk. **

**Groaning in pain, Mason collapsed, grabbing his leg. Mason's shoulder-length blonde hair twisted as he cried out "_Shepard! Grab the shit and go!" _**

**As he came upon him, Shepard skidded to a halt and roughly grabbed ahold of Mason's shoulders, picking him up and running. The weight of Mason's body meant Shepard would run slower, but he wasn't about to leave a friend – a fellow _Red_ – behind. **

"**_What the fuck are you doin'? They'll get us now!" _protested Mason as he struggled to get to his feet. **

"_**I'm not leaving you behind!" **_**Shepard barked at him, silencing him as they ran. "****_And they won't catch us – not getting caught by some blues, that's for sure." _**

"**Blues" was an informal term used among criminals to describe Alliance police forces; due to the blue armour they always wore, the police were easily identified by gangsters and thugs alike. **

**Ducking into a small utility closet that had obviously not been used for a long time, Shepard and Mason ducked into a hole in the wall that had been covered by a tarp. Moving it aside, the two of them climbed back as far as they could, sticking right up against the wall, panting. **

**The police officers stopped – Shepard could see that there were four of them, all with their weapons drawn – and looked around. They searched the other row-houses and the closet, but didn't look very long. It wasn't long before they moved off, back toward the street. **

"_**What did I tell ya, Mason? They ain't going to catch us." **_**Shepard smirked as he climbed out of the hole, his friend behind him. **

"_**Shit, Shep – I'm not doubting you again." **_**Grinning, he stuck his hand into his pocket and fished out several large diamond rings. ****_"Give these up to Chow, he'll probably be able to get at least 10g's for each. Reds'll be fuckin' thrilled." _**

**Smirking, Maxwell brushed a hand through his jet black hair. His life wasn't easy; he never knew his parents and he grew up on the streets of New California City; it was one of over 50 mega-cities that now covered Earth. He had joined the Tenth Street Reds at the age of 11, starting out as a runner – the Reds often used younger boys and girls to relay messages between cities. **

**As he grew up, he moved from running to smuggling to assault; he had done it all. **

"_**Hey, Mason – let's get back to Overcamp and turn in the shit. I'm hungry." **_

"**Overcamp" was the nickname that the Reds gave to their main base of operations; it was located, not surprisingly, on 10th street, which had long-ago been written off by the government; it was a haven for crime and red-sand dealing. **

**The Reds dominated over half of the NCC, with smaller cliques located in London and New Berlin as well – they they were on their way to becoming a major player. Their major enemies, the Crips – which were a gang that dated back well over 100 years – had been increasingly targeted by Alliance police due to their brazen raids into the wealthy New York and Paris cities – since the Reds stayed mostly confined to the NCC, they were able to avoid major police action. **

**Overcamp was the main slice of Red heaven, in Maxwell's mind – it was an abandoned factory block that was repurposed and fortified into a command base; it had red sand refineries, gun-running facilities, cyberhacking terminals, forged credit ID chips, and even a small contract-killing group. Shepard had nothing to do with contract killing, however; he was more then willing to beat someone up, but to kill? **

**Not yet. **

**As the two walked into the main dorm, the two were approached by a rather large, muscular African-American man. **

**Mason grinned at him. _"Hey, Jadan, how's it hangin -" _**

**He wasn't able to finish his sentence, however, as the man delivered a left hook that sent him flying backwards into a table. **

**Shepard stopped and turned toward Jadan in surprise and anger. Before he could even react, he sent a knee into the older man's crotch as hard as he could. **

**That got his attention. Jadan let out a cry of pain and dropped to his knees. Shepard wouldn't give him time to recover, however; he proceeded to punch the man's oversized face – two, three, four, five, six; he lost count after seven – until he was on the floor in a pool of his own blood. **

**The other Reds had run over to see what was going on, and they all looked at Shepard in amazement. Jadan was a cell leader – he was going on twenty-five and was one of the meanest motherfuckers in the Reds; he was famed for his brutality and violence; it was said it was a dark day when he wasn't beating someone up – and he had just been taken down by a seventeen-year old junior member. **

"**_Hey! What the fuck is going on here?" _bellowed a deep voice from the hallway. A tall, lanky woman strode in with a menacing glare on her face. Looking at Mason, then the unconscious Jadan, and then Shepard, she allowed a one-sided grin to appear on her face. **

"_**Shit. I knew you were tough, Shep – but not this tough. Jadan was askin' for it, I bet – the asshole was trying to get in my pants since you boys left this morning. Glad to see the fucker got a taste of his own meds." **_

**Shepard forced back a grin. The woman, who had a rather lithe form and short, blonde hair, was a lieutenant of the Red's leader, Fierro. Amanda Perkins – or as she liked to be called, "Amp", was feared and admired by most of the men in the Reds; she was as good with a gun as she was with words, and she wasn't afraid to use either of them on you. **

**Shepard had learned that the hard way when he back-talked to her after a red-sand deal; he had ended up on the floor of the dorm with a broken nose. **

**Walking over to Mason, who was grunting in pain as he held his nose, which was bleeding slightly, Shepard shrugged. _"The fucker wanted to go after Jamo – and I said no, fuck that shit." _**

"**_Heh, you're a tough one, I'll give ya that. Normally, beating the shit out of another member gets ya the 10__th__ Treatment – but since I like you, and Jadan's a pig, I'll let it go." _smirked Amp as she strode over to Jadan, who was starting to his feet. **

**Mason, who had smacked Shepard on the shoulder, responded, facing Amp. "_Jadan's fuckery aside, we got the shit, Amp." _Smirking proudly, he took the three rings out of his pocket and placed them into the woman's waiting, outstretched hand. _"Had a run in with the blues, but Shepard and I managed to outwit the witless." _**

"_**Nice work, you two – honestly, I thought you'd be sitting in some Alliance shithole prison by now and we'd have to kiss your asses goodbye until the trial, but still – nice. We can get at least 30 thou' for all of 'em." **_

**Shepard strolled over to one of the tables that had been set up; it was full of energy drinks and red sand. Grabbing an energy drink – Shepard hated Red Sand; he found it was fucking awful on the sinuses – he cracked it open and guzzled half of it back before letting out a loud belch. _"Hey, Amp – tell me somethin'. What's a fine piece of ass like you doin' with the Reds? You could start your own gang with a bod like that." _**

**Amp turned to face him, face returned to a scowl; Shepard still grinned, as he knew her all too well – she might be the boss's LT and lover, but she enjoyed when the men of the Reds took notice of her.**

**Strutting over to where Shepard sat, she grinned and wagged her finger at him. _"That's easy, Shep – I haven't found any men willing to do whatever the fuck it takes." _Winking at him, she returned to looking over the dorm. **

_**Everytime she does that, **_**Shepard's mind mused, ****_I have to restrain myself from wanting to give it to her right now..._Sadly, even if she were interested in him, the boss's woman was his only; anyone who fucked with Fierro didn't live long enough for a repeat. **

**Mason soon walked over to Shepard, grinning widely. _'You're fucking awful, y'know that, right?" _**

**Shepard laughed and took a gulp of his drink. _"You're damned right." _**

**Mason soon joined Shepard at the table, setting up and snorting a line of Red-Sand, at which point Shepard grimaced, eliciting a grin from Mason. _"I know ya hate the shit, but I can't get enough, man. It's like weed, but better!" _**

**Shepard shook his head. _"Give me a joint any day to sand – shit leaves your sinuses as loose as the whores we've got on 53__rd."_**

**Laughing, Mason grabbed a can of Jolt – at least, Shepard thought it was called that – and guzzled some back; it didn't last however, as he promptly belched most of it onto the floor, cursing himself for doing sand and drinking. **

**Shepard howled with laughter as he watched the show, casually tossing his now-empty can onto the floor. _"Jamo, you are a moron sometimes – and by sometimes, I mean all the time. God, you're worse then Finch when me and him did that sand deal with the Crips that turned into a shootout, you remember?" _**

**Mason nodded. How could anyone forget? The 59th Street War was one of the most infamous conflicts that the Reds had been through in the past few years; Shepard and six other Reds were making a sand deal with a splinter faction of Crips who had a deal to make; in exchange for a supply of sand and backing against the main leaders, they would ally with the Reds and take over the sand trade in the NCC. **

**However, the deal went bad; the main Crip faction got word of it and sent fifteen armed Crips to break up the deal; in the ensuing battle, fix Crips were killed along with three Reds. **

**After that, there was no more splinter faction – and the war between the gangs got even nastier. Shepard shuddered as he remembered it; it was one of the first times that he, then aged 12, had fired a pistol. **

**Even in the Reds, you never forget something like that. **

"_**Shepard? Too much Jolt? Helloo?"**_

**Shepard blinked and shook his head; he had obviously zoned out. Mason was in front of him, waving his hand, and at Shepard's response, laughed heartily. _"Ha, you gotta lay off the Jolt so __fast, man...not good for ya." _**

**Shepard grunted and smoothed out his ratted black tank top; it had been patched up several times from excessive tearing. "_Shut up, Jamo – at least I don't snort sand like it's going out of style. I mean shit, you don't even HAVE biotic powers anymore, the telekinesis stopped having an effect last month, you did so much." _**

**Mason chuckled before setting up another line of sand, which he snorted eagerly. **

"_**Fair point. Fuck you." **_


End file.
